Heathrow bosses’ new bid for third runway

Flights cancelled: Heathrow services have been hit by the weather again

Heathrow bosses today unleashed a full throttle bid for a third runway.

In a dramatic move, they sought to make the case for expansion at the west London airport by arguing that it would not inevitably lead to a fourth runway.

They are also working on a range of plans for a third runway, rather than just the proposed one north of the airport — which caused such controversy and was opposed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Options that will be considered include tunnelling the M25, keeping the existing terminals and filling in reservoirs to build three or four runways to the west of the airport, or extending the current two runways to in effect create four.

The airport bosses have also launched a fresh campaign over the need for a bigger Heathrow to maintain Britain’s position as a global trading nation.

Opponents of Heathrow expansion emphasise that if a third runway is built it will lead to more being allowed. But Heathrow today argued that the Department for Transport may have over-estimated demand in future decades as capacity constraints meant passengers had been and were shifting to other European hub airports.

Ross Baker, Heathrow’s director of strategy, said: “Forecasts show a clear and urgent demand for a three-runway hub, although longer-term forecasts are inherently uncertain and the need for a fourth runway may not materialise.”

It also emerged that Heathrow may submit several proposals to expand the airport to the Davies Commission into Britain’s aviation needs.

An aviation source said: “There’s a lot of new thinking going on about how additional runways could be delivered at Heathrow. The options we submit to the Commission could look very different from the old third runway proposal.”

But MPs and anti-expansion campaigners were immediately sceptical that Heathrow would not push to grow even bigger.

John Stewart, chairman of anti-expansion group Hacan, added: “There is no guarantee that if they get a third runway that they would stop at that.”